Dustin Poirier recently expressed his desire to rematch Eddie Alvarez after “The Underground King” knocked out Justin Gaethje at UFC 218 in Detroit, Mich., to win UFC’s “Most Violent Man” award (see it). Unfortunately for “The Diamond,” he won’t be getting his do-over against the ex-Lightweight champion anytime soon because Alvarez has his eyes on bigger and better things.
In other words, he isn’t interested in taking a step backward.
“Considering what I just did, it would the silliest thing I could do. They put me up against an undefeated rising star and they were going to give Justin Gaethje a title fight if he beat me. It didn’t happen, knocked the guy out, he’s never been beaten in his life,” Alvarez said on a recent edition of “The MMA Hour.”
Alvarez and Poirier fought at UFC 211 this past May, but after Alvarez clipped Poirier with a few illegal knees, the bout was ruled a “No contest” and the two have been at each others’ throats ever since. Poirier went on to defeat Anthony Pettis in his comeback fight last month (see it). And while Alvarez respects Poirier’s persistence, it’s just not going to happen.
“I respect Dustin’s push, he’s doing his best job, but it’s like … it’s all for nothing. It would be silly for me to go backward and look at that guy. I am looking the same way he is looking. I am looking forward at Tony Ferguson, we are keeping an eye on the Khabib and Barboza fight and I am trying to help Edson whoop on Khabib.
“So we will see how that top fight plays out,” he continued. “This is my last fight, I have one fight left and I am going to sit with the boss man. He texted me, we had a conversation after the Gaethje fight and we are gearing up to talk about a mega-fight. It shouldn’t be long before we sit down and talk about doing something big.”
Indeed, Alvarez has one more fight left on his current UFC contract and is close to locking up his future with the top mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion in the world. As far as that mega-fight, Alvarez says fight fans will be pleased once he irons out the details with Dana White.